Revisiting Brewers' Franchise-Altering Deal 17 Years Later

The Milwaukee Brewers pulled off one of the biggest deals in recent memory for the franchise 17 years ago today.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum took to social media on Monday and shared a post about Milwaukee's trade with the Cleveland Guardians 17 years ago to acquire Hall of Fame starting pitcher CC Sabathia.

"On this date in 2008, the Brewers acquired CC Sabathia," the Hall of Fame shared from the official X account. "The Class of 2025 inductee carried the club on his back, going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA while leading the NL with seven complete games and three shutouts, to clinch Milwaukee's first postseason appearance in 26 years."

Nowadays, the playoffs aren't a stranger to Milwaukee. The Brewers have dominated the National League Central over the last few years, but that wasn't the case when Sabathia came to town. He unfortunately was only in town for the remainder of the 2008 season, but it was an impactful run.

Sabathia made 17 starts for Milwaukee and went 11-2 with an eye-popping 1.65 ERA and 128-to-25 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 130 2/3 innings pitched. In today's game, it's seemingly rare for a pitcher to go beyond five or six innings. That wasn't the case back in 2008, but what Sabathia did was still shocking. In 17 starts in Milwaukee, Sabathia pitched seven complete games. That's insane.

He helped to get Milwaukee back to the playoffs and since then the Brewers' fortunes have changed. Milwaukee may not have had Sabathia for long, but it was an impactful deal nonetheless.